docking dough means perforating the surface with tines of a fork or a special spiked roller to pop bubbles and keep the dough flat. In pizza making, it is used in thin cracker crusts and sometimes in deep dish chicago pies.

If you've ever notited the pin buggers on the top of a saltine cracker - that's docking.

As to the perforated pan, I guess it's supposed to allow more heat to the crust and allow some evaporation so you don't get a soggy crust.

Do yourself a favor. Use the pan for serving and bake the pizza on a stone. It's the only way.

Logged

Since joining this forum, I've begun using words like "autolyze" and have become anal about baker's percents. My dough is forever changed.

I have a small pampered chef stone. The directions say to pre heat the oven to 475 then put the pizza in. Can I prepare the pizz directly on the stone then place it inside the pre heated oven or do I have to preheat the stone too?

Perforated pizza pans are often used to reheat frozen pizzas. They can also be used for baking fresh pizzas, but unless they are dark or well seasoned from prolonged use they don't do a particularly good job in achieving good bottom crust browning.

Believe it or not, out of all the pans, screens, stones, and general baking surfaces I have at my disposal, I prefer using my 14 year old Chicago Metallic perforated pans for hand-tossed pizzas. Needless to say, they are dark and well seasoned, and the only cleanup required is a quick wipe with a paper towel. How I use them is perhaps a little different. I place a pizza stone on the rack just bellow the middle rack of the oven and preheat it. I place the pizza on the rack just above it. This is to provide a more even baking on the bottom due to a solid source of heat, in addition to the moisture absorbing qualities of the stone still being in partial effect at close distances. As a result, the top and bottom of the pizza are browned and crisped identically.

Believe it or not, out of all the pans, screens, stones, and general baking surfaces I have at my disposal, I prefer using my 14 year old Chicago Metallic perforated pans for hand-tossed pizzas. Needless to say, they are dark and well seasoned, and the only cleanup required is a quick wipe with a paper towel. How I use them is perhaps a little different. I place a pizza stone on the rack just bellow the middle rack of the oven and preheat it. I place the pizza on the rack just above it. This is to provide a more even baking on the bottom due to a solid source of heat, in addition to the moisture absorbing qualities of the stone still being in partial effect at close distances. As a result, the top and bottom of the pizza are browned and crisped identically.

- red.november

Red November I just bought that exact pan from Amazon! Any pointers on using it, aside from what you already described?

I am also going to play with putting my stone ABOVE the pizza. It seems my gas oven heats the bottoms up way too fast while cooking on MAX (550). The bottom tends to burn before the top.

Are you talking about a burnt bottom while using the new pans, or are you talking about another method and you're still waiting for the new pans? I've never had a problem with burning on the bottom with a perforated pan. That's part of the strategy in using a perforated pan, in that only part of the dough's bottom is exposed to the heat while the other part is waiting for the pan to get hot. Placing a stone above and below your pizza would probably be your best option (economically speaking), otherwise just line your entire oven in tile to even out the hot/cold spots. I find that just the stone below the pizza is perfect for the browning and crispiness I want to achieve. If your bottom heats up too fast and you're using a stone below the pizza, just put your pizza in when the stone is at the temperature you want.

Are you talking about a burnt bottom while using the new pans, or are you talking about another method and you're still waiting for the new pans?

I meant the current method I am using. I tried the whole "cook it as hot as you can" idea. My oven tops out at 550 degrees. I let the baking stone sit in there on the lowest rack for about 1 hour. I then slid my pizza (Which was on baking paper) directly on the stone, paper and all. The bottom crisped up quickly in ~5 mins while the top was barely hot.

I know now after reading your post that the best configuration is lot's of tile to retain the heat and even it out.

However, given my previous "stone" method, my question is about introducing the perforated disk. I am starting to switch to this cooking style for a cracker type crust. Considering my oven gets really hot from the bottom up, would I be best off using the perforated disk with nothing underneath and the stone above it? Also, when using your disk, how close to the bottom of the oven do you go? I assume I just need to try some different setups. Cooking directly on a stone seems quite different than the disk route.

I learned the value of docking the dough on my second attempt at making a cracker-style crust. I pre-baked the non-docked dough, and when I went to take it out of the oven, it looked like a pillow. It inflated over 6" tall.

I have a small pampered chef stone. The directions say to pre heat the oven to 475 then put the pizza in. Can I prepare the pizz directly on the stone then place it inside the pre heated oven or do I have to preheat the stone too?

I noticed you asked some questions that were not answered, next time you may consider starting a thread on pizzainn style or post them. The stone has to be preheated in the oven for at least 45min, the stone has to be hot.. Do not prepare the pizza on a cold stone. You can prepare it on a sheet of parchment paper if you do not have a pizza peel. The docking/fork prick is done once the (dow?) dough is rolled out, then after it is docked you add sauce ,toppings, and cheese. Freezing dough is possible but usually not for the home pizza maker due too lack of equipment required for flash freezing. Because you are a newbie, It may be a good idea for you to read through the Glossary on the pizzamaking.com home page if you have definition questions. I have never tried the pizza inn recipe but if should work out fine as lonf as you follow the instructions. Chiguy